This section is intended to introduce the reader to aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the present disclosure described herein, which are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present disclosure described herein. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.
Conventional rotary seals are employed in a wide variety of environments and settings, such as in mechanical rotary devices in order to provide a fluid-tight seal. The sealing assemblies are usually positioned about a rotating shaft or rod that is mounted in and protrudes from a stationary mechanical housing. The conventional rotary seal has limited flexibility on the choice of seal elements for rotary regenerative heat exchangers when they are exposed to harsh effluent, erosive, and corrosive fluids and environmental effects. Further, the conventional rotary seal requires complicated, expensive, and time-intensive installations, and extensive familiarity or customization of sealing dimensionality, which can require in many instances an extensive replacement schedule of one or more sealing parts and elements. Hence, conventional seals have limited capability for selecting, customizing, or comparing material choices based on the rotary device, heat exchanger, power plant requirements, or intended application.
Therefore, what is needed is a radial seal assembly that reduces installation time, reduces frequency of replacement, increases travel distance of the seal, increases selectivity options, increases resistance to harsh corrosive environments, and reduces downtime during maintenance, or partial or full non-functionality of one or more boilers.